


Better Than Some New Parchment

by Lordly_Serypheites



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Griffin McElroy can fight me okay, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, Some happiness, for MY BOY, good sweet gay boys, johavi, just ya know, little angst I guess?, more so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 01:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10709172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lordly_Serypheites/pseuds/Lordly_Serypheites
Summary: Johann hates how he's ignored, but has come to terms with it. Avi will not stand for it.





	Better Than Some New Parchment

A heavy sigh permeated the silence of the elevator. Several days before, Magnus punched the speakers out for some unknown reason, and maintenance hadn’t really seen to fixing the problem yet. 

But for once, Johan was thankful for something those idiots did. The silent elevator time gave him a chance to pull out his violin and play with some tunes. It was a sad song, reflecting his mood. He sighed again, attempting to shove away the heaviness on his chest. He absentmindedly plucked a simple, juvenile tune. Happy Birthday. 

He was certain no one would remember. Again. It seemed that only the director knew the date of his birth. Even he tended to forget, only reminded when he found a little basket at his door containing new rosins and picks, fresh scrolls and quills for writing music, and a few non-music related items as well. 

And now, here he was going down to feed the voidfish the last of his gift from the previous year. 

  
  


As he walked down the hallway to the voidfish’s chamber, he noticed something peculiar. All of the guards usually lining the hallway were nowhere to be seen. 

“That is a massive security risk…” he muttered, although he didn’t really care. He placed his hands on both handles to the massive double door in front of him, and pushed. They didn’t open. He jimmied the handles, but they wouldn’t budge. He patted his pockets, searching for the key, but of course he didn’t have it, the chambers were never locked during the day.

Then Johan heard the voices. Very faintly from inside, a snicker, then a quiet grunt of pain, as if someone was elbowed to shut up. He rolled his eyes and pounded on the door.

“Whoever’s in there needs to open up. I have a job to do.” He shouted tersely, crossing his arms. The door opened just a crack and a sliver of a familiar face, and sideburn, poked out.

“What’s the password?” he giggled. 

“Oh my god, seriously Magnus? Come on,” the half elf replied, attempting to push against Magnus’ strength. It obviously didn’t goddamn work. 

“Umm… No, I don’t think that’s the password. In fact, from my memory, the password is: ‘It’s my birthday’.”

Johan was speechless, shock showing plainly on his half-hidden face. “It’s my birthday…” he muttered almost too quiet to hear, almost to himself.

“That’s more like it!!!” Magnus crowed, throwing the double doors wide open to reveal what could only be a party. Johan walked in after his large friend, in something of a trance. His eyes flicked around the room, to the banners reading “Happy birthday, Johan!”, streamers adorning the walls, a table set with gourmet looking refreshments. It even looked like they put confetti in the voidfish’s tank, a rainbow of colors swirling in with the inky black.

And above all that, the chamber full of his friends and coworkers, clapping and cheering and singing and enjoying macarons. Here for him. 

Emotion threatened to spill over his ability to contain it, but for the first time in what felt like forever, a genuine smile was on his face. 

Magnus led him over to their little circle, Taako, Merle, some guy in a really nice suit he’d never met, The Director, boy detective Angus McDonald, Lucas (which was a little shocking), Avi, Killian, and Carey. They welcomed him over, patted him on the shoulder, hugged him, wished him a happy birthday, thanked him for everything he did. It was a lot for him to take in. But goddamn was he eating it up. He always wondered what he would ever do if people actually appreciated what he did, and figured it would be awkward, but this came naturally to him. He sometimes forgot he was an entertainer by nature. 

“So what do you think, buddy? Like the set up?” Taako, asked, gesturing to the room.

“Yeah you guys really, ya know, spruced this place up. Doesn’t feel as dismal as usual.” He looked around again, catching Avi’s eye for a minute, who gave him a grin.

“How old are ya now? 19? 20?” Merle gave him a playful nudge, which probably would have hit his ribs had he not been incredibly short, instead reaching his lower hip.

“Uh- 74, actually,” the birthday boy chuckled. 

“DAMN right forgot you’re a half-elf!” the group had a laugh and conversation continued, Taako making a jab at Merle about “looking one’s age” before tossing a lock of flawless hair over his shoulder.

“So uh, Magnus, how did you guys like… know? No one ever knows about my birthday.”

Magnus gave a sneaky laugh and pointed surreptitiously at Avi, saying, “It was his idea really. He sorta came to us with the whole plan.”

“Uh huh… Thanks Mag-” Before he could finish, the mountain of a man pulled him into a hug, which one would think should be bone-crushing, but was actually quite soft. After a minute of genuine shock and panic, Johan accepted the embrace, before the two rejoined the party. 

  
  


Hours and hours later, of course after the voidfish was fed, (they gave it a set of old tomes so Johan wouldn’t have to give up a composition on his birthday, which nearly made him break down again) the party was winding down. Most of the acquaintances had moved on with their days after giving the birthday boy their well wishings. It was just his circle of friends left, all seated at a big table, drinking and telling stories and just generally having a good time.

Johan was seated directly across from Avi, who he made eye contact with for a moment, before the latter made a gesture saying something like “come with me”. He gave a quizzical look but followed shortly after him. 

He led him to the other side of the chamber than the party was, away from the talking and laughter.

“So… What did you think?” Avi asked, an edge of nervousness in his voice. He seemed to pick up on it as well, because the sentence was followed by a quick swig from his flask and a smile. 

“I… honestly don’t even know what to say… This is maybe the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, like, ever,” Johan answered, playing with the hem of his frilly shirt absentmindedly. “So thanks, I guess. You really didn’t have to do all this, no one’s ever-”

“Well that’s the thing. You sacrifice so much for this place. To keep all of our asses safe. The fact that there’s not like- a national holiday for you-” The bard laughed, genuinely laughed, and suddenly Avi’s face was quite red. But he laughed too.

“I guess I didn’t realize how, uh… fucked up? I was? About everyone ignoring me? I- I don’t know man maybe it’s the brandywine talking- but I really appreciate that you went out of your way to do this for me” 

“Nah man don’t worry about it, it wasn’t even an issue-”

“Well I’m sure it must have been a lot of work-”

“I’d do anything to make you happy,”

Avi clamped his hand over his mouth, face, once again, flushing a deep shade of red against his dark complexion. Johan shared in it, looking startled at the statement, and how heartfelt it was.

To avoid an awkward silence, Avi quickly said, “Just a sec!” and ducked out of view for a bit. He came back, carrying a gift box wrapped in silver paper and tied up with a blue bow. 

“Uh, Taako helped me with the wrapping, but I got you a present.”

Johan took the shiny box, which was about the size of a microwave, and took off the lid. Inside was a wooden cylinder about a foot long and three inches in diameter, with a cap on one end, and a smaller metal cannister. The wooden object had a beautifully intricate design of several jellyfish interwoven with music notes and curly lines carved into the outside. The second object appeared to be a thermos of some sort.

“Okay so the metal thing, it’s like a big flask made to keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. It might be enchanted? It’s hard to say with shit from fantasy Costco. But I saw it and thought of how you just hate lukewarm coffee. And then the wooden thing. That’s uh, an enchanted scroll holder? Magnus helped with the outside, and a friend from the artifacts and enchanting department helped with the magic stuff. But basically, it makes it so anything you put inside it gets put in… uh… oh what did they call it? A Pocket dimension? It’s sorta like a bag of holding, but for scrolls specifically. I know how you hate crumpled sheet music, so i figured this could help you out with that a bit.”

Avi finished his explanation and looked Johan a little anxiously.

Who was completely dumbstruck. Several things were becoming apparent at once. Avi actually listened to him. Avi actually remembered shit about him. And Avi actually  _ cared _ about him. 

Careful to gently put down the gift, Johan threw his arms around Avi, who was surprised for a moment, but quickly hugged him back. The bard felt the dam break, after holding it back for so long. Hot tears streaked down his face, as bottled up abandonment and sadness and for once  _ hope _ poured out of him.

Avi pulled away and held him at arm's length, “Woah are you alright? I- I didn’t screw up did I?”

Johan sniffled and wiped his eyes and gave him another one of those genuine smiles. “No, not at all, you- I- Thank you…” Avi pulled him in for another hug, letting him cry on his shoulder until he could cry no more.

“There’s… Uh… One more thing I wanted to say…” Avi murmured. 

“Hm?” The bard removed his head from the other’s shoulder to look at him.

“Something I’ve been wanting to say for a while, actually.”

The look on Avi’s face got Johan’s attention, eyes not meeting his, and cheeks beet red. He felt his own face heating up.

“I, uh, I think you’re really amazing. And I’ve had a thing for you for a while. So will you go out with me?” He rushed through his words so fast they almost went over Johan’s head.

Almost.

He was, once again stunned. The night kept getting more and more insane, he’d be lying if he hadn’t considered if this was a dream.

He took Avi’s hand in his own and gave him a tired smile. “That... would be… really nice.” He found himself leaning in, mirroring the man in front of him. And their lips met, Johan tasting the hard liquor on Avi’s breath, both of them melting into the kiss. 

They parted begrudgingly, but contentedly spent the rest of the night leaning against the voidfish’s tank, talking and laughing, leaving the rest of the party to wonder where they went.

  
  


The next morning, they would find them cuddled together, Johan under Avi’s arm, both looking too peaceful to disturb. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(AHAHAHAHAHA IT’S 4 AM WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING)

**Author's Note:**

> So uh yeah I finished writing this at 4 am  
> Holy hell if you could' seen my revision history you'd think I was typing with my face


End file.
